Everyone's Best Buddy

I've had cats all my life - Persians, Maine Coons, ragdolls, mixed breed strays and more. Seen them healthy, seen them sick, seen them reach 16, 17 years of age in some cases, and I've handled just about every personality type there is to handle!

5 years ago, I received a freak-chance phone call about a group of stray kittens a neighbor had rounded up, and went to have a look. When I saw that it was a family of American shorthairs, I knew right away I'd have to take one in. What I didn't know was that the one I selected would become the neighborhood flirt!

Appropriately named "Buddy" once we'd had a day or two to observe his personality, this inquisitive little lover is more like a small child in the house than a cat. He's a problem solver and a social butterfly, always curious about new people and ready to make their acquaintance. He loves to lay on guests and family alike, has a big, throaty purr that's almost always in use, and in keeping with his breed, he's extremely healthy and resistant to most of the ailments my other cats get caught up in.

My third American shorthair, I was prepared for certain aspects of Buddy's personality (I knew he'd be a little vocal, I knew he'd be healthy and hardy, I knew he'd be playful and spirited), but so far, he hits more of the shorthair characteristics than any of my previous pets.

This does come with occasional drawbacks: Buddy is an overeater in the extreme, very outspoken in his requests for bites of your food, and for a short time he plumped up to the point we had to switch him to low-calorie Royal Canin and exercise him daily. He is also not terribly suited for long periods of alone time, though this may have more to do with his particular personality than his breed. And he's occasionally too smart for his own good - once he realized water came from faucets, he began to paw and tug at their handles, sometimes to the point of turning them on!

Overall, he's one of the three current loves of our lives, and we like that he's got such a big personality.